Another day of my life
by vanquish356
Summary: My name is firebreak. Well my code name anyway. Come and follow me and take a glance into my life as a specialist. Learn all about the mischief, love and other things i have to deal with along with the other specialists. Well as i always say Life is strange, no?
1. Chapter 1

Another day of my life

'_oh man, my head'_ was the only thought that ran through my head as I woke up. I looked over towards the calendar I keep in my room and see that its Friday and the last week of June. Okay, now I'm starting to remember what the hell happened.

But before we begin, I need to tell you my name. My name is Krystof "Firebreak" Hejeck and I am one of the nine specialists belonging a special organization called the CoD. We used to belong to the CDP before it became corrupted and fell apart. Now we handle situations no other countries want to even talk about.

Ok, now that we got the annoying part out of the way, I might as well tell you what caused my headache. Well first I have to tell you about the other eight specialists I work with.

Okay, so first of theirs Donnie "Ruin" Walsh. He is a jokester and loves to party. And for some reason he loves to make me the target of these pranks. Oh man, he loves to see how far he can push the line with me. Though despite all this, he is headstrong, fearless and a good leader if need be.

Next there is Erin "Battery" Baker. She is pretty much a close female version of Ruin. Though she is much more fun to be around. Though I should also mention she respects everyone who fights on the battlefield and is protective of those people. Which would explain why she doesn't like some other specialists.

Then there is David "Prophet" Wilkes. A creepy man, or should I say cyborg or something. He can be easily identified as he pretty much is and looks like a robot. He is a good and reliable man, just don't let him start talking about cybernetics otherwise you will be there for a while and he will most likely try to convince you to be like him. He can also be easily spotted because he is usually with his robot companion.

The companion I speak of is "Reaper". A strange robot that has some semblance of sentience in him. As weird as that is, the machine does no harm to any of us. It also stays silent most of the time and either keeps to itself or prophet.

Next is He "Seraph" Zhen-Zhen. Took me a while to say her name correctly without making her twitch in anger. She is a tough no nonsense kind of woman. She will not take failure lightly and strives for victory. Although she will admit when she is bested in combat. Though the worst is when she talks and talks about the 54i and how they will never be defeated. Luckily, it's not often that she does that and she does give good advice and encouragement to others. Though for some reason she gives me the most encouragement and praise for my type of fighting style. Which I find odd, especially if you know me.

Next is Tavo "Nomad" Rojas. He is a good man, with no ill intentions and a good person to be assigned with. Most of the time. He is very paranoid and always cautious. Almost too cautious. Well given what happened to his unit and his brothers in arms, I can't say I blame him. I mean, I would be to if that happened to me. Ironically, he is my best friend in this group of specialists. Which is weird since he uses anything and everything in the environment to his advantage while I would just burn everything down

Then we have specter. No one knows who specter is or what gender specter is. All you need to know about specter is that specter is not to be fully trusted. Specter will come and help you when needed but usually is alone. Specter is also a wet works operative and I hate them with a passion. But not so much specter since Specter has proven to be more trustworthy then others I have met.

Lastly, we have Alessandra "Outrider" Castillo. She is pretty nice. Not as serious as Seraph or as laid back as Ruin. She always looks out for the others while always feeding us with information. Basically, she is someone you can trust to have your back and be comfortable around her without worrying about her stabbing you in the back (like specter). All in a good person to be with and one that you can trust.

Well, now that you know who I have to deal with on a regular basis I can tell you how I got this killer headache. Now to put it simply is that we had a long and hard two weeks of continuous missions. Day and night with little to no breaks or rests in-between. It was exhausting both physically and mentally. Well, since we got back yesterday and started to get some rest, Ruin and Battery had the great idea that we should go out to party as a form of relaxing and to celebrate a job well done on the missions. Not surprisingly though it was a club they had found recently. And it was not a small one, it was a Big club. It easily dwarfed many other clubs I have seen in my life and was three stories high.

Well, after we got in, everyone went their own way while I just went to a corner table to rest and ordered some nonalcoholic beverage since I prefer to stay sober. Well that was the original plan anyway. About ten minutes later Ruin found me and drag me with him to the bar and dance floor saying I need to get out and socialize more. I was about to flip him off and go back to my seat when Battery snuck up behind me and told me the same thing except already being wasted. She never really could handle alcohol. The next thing I knew was being fed dome strong liquors and thrown onto the dance floor. I can dance, not very well mind you, it's just that I don't like to dance that much. Well, I started to dance and that's when things start to get hazy. Guess it's because of all the alcohol they made me drink.

Wait, somethings coming back. Yes, I remember now. I remember a couple women coming up to me and asking me to dance. Then I hear Ruin and Battery cheering me on. Something else is coming to me. Yes, I remember glancing around and spotting Outrider close by looking down and upset. Then she came over and…..that's it. I can't remember what else happened. Well I guess its best I don't remember what happened because it could lead to something I do not want to deal with later on.

Best get ready now before the cafeteria runs out of food and resorts to cheap mre's again. Goodbye and remember to always bring spf 5000 if you want to be around me.


	2. Chapter 2

Another day of my life

Chap: 2 cafeteria

Oh, back again to see more of my life and what happens to me and the rest. Well the next thing I will let you take a peek into my life is the food we eat at the bases. Oh man the food is terrible and I should know since throughout my life I have had some terrible food that was not poisoned yet still managed to kill people or proclaim they would rather starve than eat the food again. Now that you know the state of the food, I used to eat, try imaging something way worse and you get the cafeteria food at all the bases we have. You would think that a multi-trillion-dollar organization would at least be able to hire some decent chefs and ingredients to make some edible food but nope you would be wrong. Let me take you through one week of the normal food we would have on a regular basis.

Monday breakfast

Monday's food at the cafeteria is, like usual, is gut wrenching and typically makes you want to puke your guts out as soon as you enter the room. Now before I go on, I should tell you that out of all of us I am the closest one to a morning person. And when I say closest, I mean that unlike others who are peppy and full of energy in the morning, I just get up and do what I have to fully wake and get what needs to be done with done. So, with that said and that knowledge, the chefs "try" to make foods that will perk us up and help us get started with the day. They always fail at that big-time though. Today's breakfast was a choice of a blue berry muffin with oatmeal on the side, scrambled eggs and bacon or a ham and egg sandwich. The oatmeal looks like something you would find in the jungle, it swallowed a fork once and Battery swears she saw it move once, and the muffin could easily break your teeth and the blueberries look moldy. Ever heard of the book green eggs and ham? Well that's what the scrambled eggs and bacon look like. I think I heard once the Geiger counter that Prophet and Reaper have installed in them(creepy) go off. Lastly the ham and egg sandwich just looked like a moldy rock that they dug up somewhere. I swear I think I saw it glow for a bit. Though that could just be me still trying to wake up.

Monday lunch

The lunch for Mondays is the same as breakfast. By that I mean it makes you question just where they got it and what the hell, they did to it. There usually are just two options for lunch. Today's options were salad with chicken or beef broth with a side serving of rice. Let's start with the broth this time. It honestly looks like, and I am not exaggerating, something they took from the nearby swamp and decided to use it for cooking. They say its "beef broth," but honestly it looks like they just add what piece of meat they saw lying around behind the stove and decided to add it to the dish. The rice however is not toxic like the other food. It just needs to be warmed up with some drinkable water and it would be ready to eat. Luckily, I always carry the purifier on me so I can cook up everyone's rice. Next is the salad with chicken. This is actually pretty interesting as in the chicken is usually so raw that you are nearly guaranteed to get salmonella. Now that is not the interesting part. The interesting part is that sometimes the chicken actually looks like charcoal from being overcooked. Now the interesting part is that, once when I ordered the overcooked chicken, I actually just flicked it to see if there was anything edible beneath the skin, the entire chicken just suddenly catch on fire. It was like they just dumped the damn thing into a tank of gasoline and gave it to us. Luckily, I was in my suit so it didn't harm me. Can't say for the other specialists who got one hell of a shock from the lit chicken. Oh right, I almost forgot about the salad that came with the chicken. There is a reason why no one even touches the salad that came with the chicken. It looked like they either took the vegetables from a radiation plant or a nuclear waste dump. You may think I am exaggerating quite a bit but no. I am pretty sure that lettuce should not be blue with mushrooms with two heads growing on it.

Monday dinner

The dinner for Monday is just one option, and that option is lasagna. This dish sent all of us to the bathroom and then the medical bay right after. Well that happened only one time, and that was when it was first served. After the first two horrible meals, we were starving and the nice smell coming from the cafeteria drew us in. And for the first time since getting there, the food actually looked edible and done by a professional chef. Oh boy how wrong we were. Once we took the first bite, we discovered the terrible mistake we just did. The "lasagna" was actually just random food thrown together that were pass their expiration date. Then they just added what they thought were supposed to go into the dish and just added what was around them into it. I actually bit into a piece of the muffin that was used for breakfast that morning. Let's just say after that, everyone was bedridden for a couple days from the severe food poisoning we got from the food. Honestly, I think it was attempted murder.

Tuesday breakfast

Well, Tuesday's breakfast is a lot simpler than of yesterday's breakfast. It was just cereal with different brand types. The milk though was rotten and chunky. So, as you can guess no one touched the milk. Since there is no milk, we just used water and turned the cereal into warm cereal and ate just like that. It tasted a lot better than we thought it would.

Tuesday lunch

Lunch for Tuesday's are generally nauseating. They say chicken soup can cure the common cold. Well I say come here and you will get even sicker from the chicken soup. Well I shouldn't say chicken soup since most of the time its turkey neck used instead of chicken. And the rest of the chicken soup comes from week old ingredients that have either been in the back of the fridge forgotten or in the trash. Well at least the water they use for the soup is actually boiled and came from fresh water. Too bad the soup didn't come with some seasoning, sauces or bread to make it more tolerable.

Tuesday Dinner

Today's dinner is considered the best meal of the entire week. You ever hear of Taco Tuesday in some companies, schools and other places. Well we have something similar. We get unlimited spaghetti and meatballs. The food is actually tasty and flavorful. It is warm and delicious and very filling. We always stampede to the cafeteria on this day at night to get the food. It was also the first place I saw what kind of eaters us specialists are. I am usually slow eating to savor the food and always tidy since despite the nature of my job I like to be clean. Ruin and Battery are slightly messy eaters with the occasional bit of food and sauce getting on the table. Nomad and Prophet are, as you could say, regular eaters. Not too messy and not to clean. Specter eats tidy but always ready to use his plate as a weapon. Well considering who he is, it makes sense. Though it was quite funny seeing Outrider and Seraph being quite messy eaters. Especially Seraph since she is always uptight and strict in everything and always demands near perfection. Though for some strange reason, I found it especially cute when I saw Outrider being a messy eater with sauce all over her face and with me having to clean the sauce she couldn't reach off of her face. Though I am still unsure of what caused me to call her cute with the sauce all over her face. "_I should ask Ruin what this feeling is later"_

Wednesday breakfast

Okay, so after last night's delicious meal you would think it would get better or at least more edible. But alas, you would be wrong. The food for breakfast was black beans with eggs and cheese with cream. Let's see, where to start. Okay let's start with the cream. It was curdled and so thick from being rotten that the only way to eat it was with a spoon. The eggs, like last time, was green but looked very disturbing with a horrible smell. The beans were questionable at best. They were actually edible but not completely as in the fact that some "beans" were actually rocks. Looks like they forgot to wash them before cooking them and the other beans were actually nearly just as hard. But at least we were able to eat them.

Wednesday lunch

Okay, the lunch for today was nothing special. It was something so hard to mess up that if they did mess it up than it would be called attempted murder. It was a grilled cheese sandwich with a side serving of two cups of pudding. While I am a full-grown man and not a kid or teen anymore, I still enjoyed the simple lunch. Least it was edible.

Wednesday dinner

Burgers. Of course, they could somehow ruin burgers. That was all I could hear for ten minutes straight. The noise was coming from both Ruin and Battery as they have real fond memories involving burgers. How did the chefs manage to ruin burgers you may ask? Well its simple, quite simple. The ingredients were either wrong or way passed the expiration date. I honestly thing the chefs are either on strike or just don't care about their job. The buns for the burgers were just hotdog buns. The meat part of the burger was actually mystery meat. Something that nobody was willing to try.

Thursday Breakfast

Okay, so today we had two options. It was oatmeal with crackers or two small bagels with cream cheese with a dash of hot sauce. The oatmeal was very watery and cold. Honestly, I'm pretty sure they just stored it in the freezer, thawed it out and served it to us. The crackers were good if not a little salty. Hey I may have a dangerous job that could kill me at any moment but I do care about my health. The bagels were hard enough to be a weapon. I am pretty sure I saw Ruin and Battery playing hockey with one of the breads. The cream was at least better than last time. The hot sauce was just plain old water dyed red and mixed with some "hot" spices. Also, a fun fact for you all about myself is that I cannot handle spicy food at all. You would think I would be used to the heat because of my line of work and my abilities but no I cannot handle the spice or heat. I can barely handle jalapeño peppers.

Thursday lunch

Well the lunch for today was, how to put it. Interesting, I guess is the right word? It was weird to say the least. It wasn't bad to be honest. It was just odd that we would get this. The dish I am talking about was homemade sushi. It was a very healthy one. The thing was that the dishes are usually expired or near the date for expiration or something just wrong with it. But this was just a plain old sushi dish. It was very delectable but at the same time weird. Well either way I like trying new foods and it was a very nice treat. It was just weird that we would normally get a poisonous dish from the chefs to something very professional and delicious.

Thursday dinner

Well, today meals just did a quick one-eighty. The dinner was just leftovers from Tuesday's dinner. And boy did they ruin it. They just grabbed remnants of it and decide to warm it up before prepping it. Instead of adding salt to it to make it taste better they used sugar. then the chefs had the oh so ever brilliant idea of adding a broth type of sauce to it over the pasta sauce and saying it's a masterpiece. Upon looking at the dish I was served I just pulled out the purifier and burned it down to the ground. Before I did that, I had a small taste of it and I have to tell you the ashes taste better than what the dish was supposed to be.

Friday Breakfast

Okay so today's breakfast was just plain old cereal with warm milk. Though we did manage to make it tastier since we were able to put some fruits in it. All thanks to Nomad. He defiantly helped our breakfast today.

Friday Lunch

Today's lunch was different than the rest. It was fish. We had salmon, huge pieces of salmon. Though the fish was severely undercooked not seasoned enough. Luckily, I just refueled the purifier. Even more surprisingly, Seraph had some spices on her person ready to be used. "I always keep spices on me Firebreak. I always had bad food and the spices can make them a little more bearable to eat." Seraph told me. Well she is not wrong.

Friday dinner

Okay today's dinner is pizza. They gave us many different options today for what type of pizza we want. There is cheese pizza, veggie pizza, peperoni pizza, meat pizza, margherita pizza and tuna pizza. Though we avoided the cheese pizza and margherita pizza since they actually smelled rotten. I chose the veggie and meat pizza. Though we all did a double take when we saw Outrider take nearly half the whole pan of tuna pizza. "What I like fish, especially tuna. Especially when it's on pizza." She defended herself with a tint of pink on her face.

Well that's what we have for our meals on the weekdays. There were some bad meals and worse meals. Though there were the occasional good ones that surprised us. Though you may be wondering how we manage to survive the week if we don't eat the food or the fact that we might get food poisoning if we ate it. And add to the fact that there are no chefs working on the weekends. Well I will tell you next time. That is if you are still interested in taking a continued look into my life. Well I am leaving now. Going to go and make something to eat that won't poison me and sends me to the infirmary.


	3. chapter: 3

Another day of my life.

Chap 3: Cooking

'munching on leaves' Hmm. Oh, you're back. Give me a moment, let me just finish my lunch. Its Italian kale with pasta and garlic tomatoes. The chefs at the cafeteria did not make it. Nomad, Reaper and Seraph made it since today's menu at the cafeteria would have given us food poisoning at best and time at the infirmary at worst. Since no one wanted to risk it we made it ourselves. Now before I tell you more, let me finish my meal.

_10 minutes later..._

'Okay, now that was good.' *Burp* Oh man was that real good. Okay, let's get a quick recap out of the way so that the new ones who just came have an idea of what we are talking about. To keep it short its basically that the chefs at the cafeteria are so bad that it seems like they are trying to kill us. Well at the very least it's just this base and not the others we also go to for missions. Okay, now that we got that part out of the way, I can tell you how we survive living at this base with the food being this terrible and deadly.

Let's see, where should I start. Okay I know now. Well, it all started a few days after arriving at this base and being told this was where we are going to live from now on. After having to deal with the food for a few days we decided to find alternative ways on how to get food into our stomachs. It turned out after a tense and awkward that we each knew how to make our own category of food. Here is a list of what each specialist can do.

_Who can make what._

Ruin: Really spicy food and add-ons

Battery: Baking

Seraph: Spices and seasoning

Nomad: anything that involves hunting and game

Reaper: anything vegetation (he has his own garden surprisingly)

Prophet: Pasta

Specter: health foods

Outrider: Traditional Brazilian foods and fish

Firebreak(me): Tenderizing meat and flambee certain pastries

Well, that's what we specialists can cook and excel at. Though we once tried to teach each other some of our own skills. It did not end well for us at all. To put a long story short, there were explosions, batter everywhere, seasoning and spices and Outrider somehow got ahold of my purifier thinking that it would be easier to use to cook meat and other food than the traditional way and started a massive fire.

Though there is the occasion where we can have a barbeque and are able to eat outside with each other. This is one of the few reasons why we choose to always remain at this base despite the food and some other setbacks. This base is the closest one to any big town that we are able to get supplies and be able to spend some money on amenities and other little knick-knacks we want or need. Which includes food for cookouts or parties. And in the case of Ruin and Battery, a bar which they visit almost religiously on the weekends.

Well this is how we survive from the food being so bad. We are also thankful that a town is nearby so that we can get supplies easier. Now that you know, I will see you next time so I can tell you how nine specialists celebrate Halloween.


	4. Chapter 4

Another day of my life

Chapter 4: Halloween

Halloween. A celebration I have never celebrated nor planned to or found a reason to since I was but a mere child. The closest thing I have come to even participating in the event was when I was trying to take care of my six-year-old sister and having to put on a disguise on myself and her to get through an area controlled by hostile soldiers and to beg for food from kind shop owners. After a few years later and losing track of my sister, I have never even considered dressing up again, especially when I learned that I can fix nearly any problem I encounter I face with fire. It wasn't until I was hired as a specialist in this group that I found myself celebrating this holiday.

If you knew how this holiday was originally intended for in this country you would find nearly no similarities when you compare back then to now. The celebration was originally intended for religious purposes. People would come and knock on people's door and would receive a treat for their service. Then they would go aside and say a pray on the rosary. The purpose of this was that when enough prayers were said, a trapped soul in purgatory would be released and sent onward to heaven. Well, that's how it originally was. As the years passed the holiday started changing, some because of necessity/need and others were to suit some people or changed by the media. This is how we came to know the holiday as it is today. Also, you might be wondering how I know all this? Well the answer is simple. I am not a brute; I like to keep up with the ongoing world and I do occasionally watch documentaries on things.

Okay, we kind of got off topic here. Now back to where we were. Today we are celebrating Halloween and I was voluntold (yes-volunteered/told) to dress up and help prepare the treats for this evening. Apparently, there is this tradition where we make treats and snacks in the style of Halloween and in the evening, we would watch scary movies in the lounge area. Because of this I was dragged into the kitchen by the others to prepare some treats. But first I had to pick a costume for me to wear for the rest of the day. Also, side note here, Specter was dressed up as the illuminate for the whole morning and said he had a different costume for the evening. '_It does suit him though being all mysterious and shady.'_ I thought when I heard him say this. Well back to my costume, I thought about being something close to a bio-hazard suit gone wrong but the others scrapped that idea before I could even get it out of my mouth. Then I decided to try out a costume from an old movie I saw. Similar to the creature of the black lagoon yet instead of a creature, it would be more like a swamp monster. So, I ripped up some parts of the suit and some mud color to it and broke a piece of the visor and added some green strings that look like seaweed to give it the look that I just came out of the swamp.

Now that my costume is ready for the evening I got back to the kitchen and started preparing some treats I saw online. It was called peperoni skulls. Nice little treats that are shaped liked skulls with gooey cheese and crispy peperoni added with a bit of spicy seasoning that when done you filled witch some sauces to make it look like blood was also coming out of it. As I started it, I had to get Battery and Seraph help so we can get this done along with the other treats and snacks in time so we can have it for the evening celebration.

We decided on some cupcakes, brownies and other tiny miscellaneous snacks including caramel treats that look like eyeballs. There were also some items we could use to spice up our drinks or ice cubes that look like eyeballs. Though as we were making these treats, I couldn't help but notice that Outrider seemed a little upset every time I looked her way and I managed to catch her giving a cold as steel glare towards Seraph and Battery as we were working on the drinks. '_I really got to find out what's been making her act like this. I'm getting worried about her.' _ "Hey Outrider. Can you start getting ready with the drinks so we can prepare them for the add-ons?" I say to her, apparently snapping her out of her thoughts with a big grin appearing on her face. "Sure Krystof. Whatever you need, now what kind of drinks are you preparing for this evening?" Outrider asked. '_Why does she insist on calling me by my first name. Well it does feel nice when she calls me that. I got to ask Ruin about this later, before I go crazy.' _

_3 hours later_

Finally finished with these treats and now we move on to the drinks for the evening. Well first we need some alcoholic and non-alcoholic for the evening since not all of us want to get wasted. Well, at least not me since the last I want is to be wasted and accidently use the purifier and get of fire. While the suit will protect me, I rather not take the chance since once was enough. Okay for the non-alcoholic drinks we are going to make are Franken-lime Fizz Mocktail, vampire ice cream floats, witches brew cocktail and Eye of Toad Halloween milkshake.

_30 minutes later_

'_I am definitely going to need a shower after this.' _I thought as I looked at myself in a nearby mirror. '_I look like I went through a land with nothing but sweets and cookies and cakes that's also filled with giant lollipops.' _Now that we finished the non-alcoholic drinks and cleaned up, we are now going to fill the glasses for the ones that want to get wasted. Okay the ones we are going to make are a sweet poison cocktail, the zombie cocktail, color changing margaritas, black magic margaritas, Jekyll and gin, and a few the risen from the grave cocktails. '_Looks like I will be on cleaning duty tomorrow to clean up everyone's vomit and help them through their hangovers. That would be a "fun" way to start the day. "Joy" for me then.' _Okay, now let me get theses done before the party otherwise the rest start to get annoyed.

_2 and a half hours late_

Okay now that everything is done, I can finally go and get ready for the party, but first a shower is in order. Don't want to go and smell like frosting and alcohol at the party.

_20 minutes later_

'_Much better. You don't know how good it feels to take a warm shower after some sticky and dirty jobs you had to do.'_ Okay, now that I no longer smell I can put on my costume and start getting the refreshments to the living room. Well the living room was actually just a small lounge room but after some reconstruction we managed to make into a very large and very comfortable living room space. As I walked into the room, I could see that it was very nicely decorated with all sorts of halloween decoration that truly look spectacular. "Looks great doesn't it Firebreak." asked Ruin as he came up next to me and started to help me set the refreshments down. "Yes, it does very much" I replied to him. "What movies are we gonna be watching?" I asked as we fished setting up the snacks and drinks on the table and around the large couch. "Some horror/killer flicks and some thriller/horror movies." he replied to me as he started to set up the theater screen. (yes, we have a miniature theater in here) "Nice choices should give us a small scare." I told him. "Yeah, plus it should scare Outrider and make her snuggle up into you for safety and protection." He told me. As soon as I heard this, I chocked harshly on the sip of water I had started to drink. "WHAT" I asked him as soon as I recovered from my coughing fit. "Come on Firebreak I seen how you look at her and more importantly how she looks at you and stares harshly when he other female personal or specialists talk or are around you. It's obvious you two like each other." He explained to me which in the end just left me speechless. "Can you at least give me some advice on how to proceed later on with this?" "Sure, Firebreak we can try in a few days. To be honest we all need someone special in our life." He said. "Thanks, now let's get ready for the celebration."

_8:00 P.M._

Okay. Everything is set and everybody is seated on the couch. Oh, right I almost forgot. I should tell you what the rest of the specialist costumes are. Well, let's start with Ruin and Battery. Ruin's halloween costume is supposed to be a version of either Dracula or Nosferatu. Maybe a cross between them; even though if this is the case it was a very realistic costume. Battery's costume was 'The Bride of Frankenstein' and it was so good that I actually mistook her for the actual one. That comment led me to running around outside for a while until Ruin calmed her down and even more so when I apologized to her. Next is Prophet and Reaper. Reaper somehow managed to make himself look like the T-800 from the terminator. Prophet's costume was star war's Darth Vader and even made a realistic replica of Darth Vader's lightsaber. Nomad decided to dress up as a mythological wood elf. Makes sense since he like to use nature to his advantage. Though it was funny seeing him with elf ears and other accessories to make him look like an elf. Specter, I was completely surprised when I first saws him, was dressed up like a bony skeleton. We did get a few chuckles when he did the skeleton dance and used the spooky scary skeletons song along with it. When Seraph came out, I was not sure what to think about her costume since she decided to dress up like a roman gladiator. On one hand she is defiantly as tough as one of them. But on the other hand, she is almost as arrogant and boasting as them. Again, I had to run for a while after they heard that since I forgot I broke my helmet for the costume and she was able to hear me easily. Though I will give her props for remaining in character throughout the entire chase. Okay, last but not least is Outrider and she has a fantastic costume on. It was a skeleton but unlike Specters it was more honoring the holiday 'El Dia de los Muertos.' Honestly, she looks beautiful and the attention to detail for her costume is amazing. I kept on staring at her until I feel someone give me a bump on the shoulder. I turn to see Ruin moving towards the couch giving me a knowing look with a wink and nod at her. I blushed as I realized what I did and that I was caught by Ruin. At least he can keep secrets.

I think I now know what those feeling I felt earlier were. I think I am falling in love with Outrider. Or at the very least developing a big crush on her. I can tell you now with confidence that the future might be a lot more complicated now. But right now, I might as well enjoy this movie night with the others since we don't get a lot of time off. As I sat down, I couldn't help but notice how me and Outrider were conveniently sitting next to each other. Also, a little while into the movies, which I found cheesy and not that scary, that Ruin was right about how Outrider might snuggle up into me during the "scary parts." Apparently, she is not scared of anything on the battlefield but when it comes to jump scares she can get scared pretty easily. Well, all I know now is that things going to get quite eventful in the future here.

Come back again for another peek into my life and see how the rest of us are doing in our daily lives and how they learned not to play with fire.


	5. Chapter 5

Another day of my life

Chapter 5: DON'T FUCK WITH FIRE!

'_Oh man. what a mess I have gotten myself into. I definitely need either a pay raise or a paid vacation after this mess. Great, I can already feel another headache coming on. Bet get out of here before I do something rash.' _As you can probably tell I am not happy and very pissed at my current situation. It was supposed to be relatively simple learning event. But, unfortunately for me, it went completely out of control and I have to clean it up since I am the only one who can. Let me tell you how this shit happened.

_Flashback_

"Hey Firebreak!"

I raised my head as I heard my name being called. I turned to face Ruin as he came over and sat with me on one of the lounge chairs with a table separating them. Despite after all the years we have been on the same team I still feel a little on edge and amazed when a teammate sits down next to me.

"Yes Ruin?" I replied back to him"

"Listen Firebreak before I ask you anything can you promise me not to set me ablaze?" He requested.

If this was years ago, I would have already set him on fire for wasting my time already. But since then I have learned to control my impulses and try not to solve everything with fire. Even though fire is highly effective at solving nearly every problem.

*sigh* "Yes Ruin I will not set you on fire. Now ask me what is on your mind before I lose my patience." Well that's one thing I still need to work on and that is my patience. But one thing at a time. Still need to figure out my feelings for Outrider.

"Ok good. I want to know if you can teach me how to handle and control/understand fire and use in battle or at least every day uses." Ruin said with his hands now in an x covering his face as if expecting an attack from me.

It never would have come though as I was truly stunned as I never expected to ever here this request being given to me. I mean this is just stunning since I have caused fear to spread among allies and enemies alike. Caused them puke everything they had and cause them to be traumatized from just seeing my work first hand if they somehow lived to tell the tale. This is not something you can do this with ease. It takes a lot just to come to understand fire. Well if they were to learn just to use fire, who better than teach him than me. Hopefully it won't go too bad. Oh, who am I kidding this won't go well. I must have been really out of it and for a while too since it took a slap to my face to wake me up and all of the specialist were there with Outrider in front of me giving me a worried look. I really am grateful that I still had my helmet since I don't think I would have been able to hide the blush on my face.

"You okay their Firebreak? You gave us quite the scare since you are usually very focused." She said as she slowly retracted her hand from the side of my helmet.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am okay. *cough* Ruin just asked me something I did not expect at all and it just caught me off guard." I replied hastily

"Must have been some request to have made you lose it that much and for that long." Said prophet who was standing along with the other specialists.

"You could say that. He wanted to know If I could teach him on how to wield fire as either a weapon or just everyday uses. Which to be honest I did not expect it at all." I told them.

Silence. That is all that came after I said this. A really long and uncomfortable silence. I am starting to think that telling them was a ba..

"I think that would be a good idea." Battery said interrupting my train of thought. Basically, confirming one of my worst fears.

Hoping it's just her who thinks this is a good is what I am hoping for. But sadly, that was soon dashed as I heard all the others agreeing to it and wanting to join in on it. I defiantly am going to need a drink after this train wreck.

"Fine, I will teach you all how to handle and treat fire. Let me just get ready and we can get started. Meet me in the training field outside in ten minutes." I told them a I headed to my room and started to get ready. This is going to be trouble; I can already tell.

_End Flashback_

I should have said no since I knew that this would happen. After putting out the fire the others caused and assessing the damage, I headed towards the infirmary with my emergency burn care I usually keep when I do high risk burning missions in small contained areas which I need to be in. The reason I was heading towards the infirmary with my medical equipment was that while they were trying to get a fire under control Outrider had gotten badly burnt on stomach and left arm with 3rd degree burns. While the infirmary had good equipment and medical practices it will still take a while for to recover. My medical equipment will shorten the treatment time, be less painful and help her recover faster. Plus, I can't help but feel responsible for her getting hurt knowing how dangerous my job is and not being able to prevent her from getting those injuries.

Ten minutes later and I finally arrived at the door to the infirmary. I hesitated at the door for a few minutes before knocking. '_What am I going to say? What will she say? Will she forgive me? What is going to happen?' _I was pulled out of my worrying thoughts when a nurse came and opened the door for me. "Y-Yes Mr. Firebreak, how can I help you today? The nurse asked me with a trembling voice. _'Looks like the infirmary staff is still afraid of me. I will deal with that later. Right now, I need to see Outrider.' "_Yes, I came to see how Outrider is doing." I told the nurse. "Okay Mr. Firebreak, just follow me and I will take you to her.

Soon I found myself standing in front of the room holding an injured Outrider. "Here you are Mr. Firebreak. Just knock before you enter. Is there anything else you require?" The nurse asked me looking like she is about o faint from fear. "No, that is all. Thank you." I told the nurse. "Your welcome Mr. Firebreak." She replied before leaving in a fast-paced way. I watched her leave before standing up straight and turning towards the door and knocking three times quickly. I nervously waited for a response. What felt like an eternity, a response finally came from the other side of the door.

"Come in." Came Outriders voice soon followed by some loud coughing.

I soon entered the room and I immediately cringed with my heart swelling up with dread, sorrow, remorse and with anger at me for letting this happened. Outrider's stomach and upper right arm and entire left arm were covered in gauze with burn treatment for the skin. The cough I heard a few moments again, but this time it was even worse as I saw her breath when she exhaled a little dark. '_She must have breathed in a lot of ash and smoke.' _I thought as I saw he continued coughing making my heart swell up with even more remorse as I could have prevented this in the first place.

"What brings you here Firebreak?" She asks bring me out of my thoughts. I Looked up at and see that she is smiling at me with a weak smile.

"I came here to check up on you and to heal you up faster with some of my medical equipment." I tell her as I raised my arm to show her the medical supplies, I brought with me.

"Ahh, how sweet. Thanks Firebreak but as you can see, I am already being treated." She told me with a pained smile that I did like how it looked on her face.

"Yes well, while those treatments they are giving you are effective, but they take a while to work and are not gentle, hurt a lot and it will take a while after the treatment for you to recover. The equipment I brought I designed myself. It is more advanced and better suited for gentle and quick recovery from 3rd degree burns while curing any other ailments caused by being near fire. I tell her as I go and sit on the chair next to her bed and start setting up my medical tools to help her.

"Okay Firebreak I trust you. You can begin the treatment. Need me to do anything to make it easier for you?" She asked me.

"Actually yes. Just try to keep still and relax. There might be some stinging and some chills going through you when I apply this to your body but try to remain still. It won't hurt I promise."

"Also here take this. It will help with your cough and clear out your lungs so you can breathe easier and talk and eat easier without all the coughing you have." I tell her as I raise my hand to give her a clear colorless solution, I made especially for circumstances like this.

"Thanks for this. The cough is getting annoying." She thanked me as I gave it to her.

"Okay let me get started on the treatment for this." I told her as I started to treat her wounds.

"Don't worry Firebreak, I trust you." was the last thing I heard from her before I tuned out everything else as I got to work on her wounds.

_10 minutes later _

"Okay I am done. Just take it easy and don't get it wet or near high heat and you would be back to normal, day after tomorrow." I tell her as I tried to wipe the sweat off my forehead only to remember I had my helmet on. I then started to pack up my medical equipment and leave.

"WAIT!" Outrider yelled out at me catching me a bit off guard at the sudden yell.

"Wait." she said more meekly this as she turned her head to hide the evident blush on her face.

" Yes Outrider?" I asked her.

"Can you please stay here for a little while. I could use the company to keep my mind off everything." She asked me. How could I say no to her, especially after what just happened.

"Sure Outrider." I tell her as I move back to the seat next to her.

"Thank you, Firebreak." She said to me as I sat next to her.

'Hey Firebreak, can I ask you something?" Outrider asked me.

"Are you free this weekend?" She asked with an unusual amount of nervousness in her voice

"Yes I am. Why do you ask?" I replied to her putting my full attention on her.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out with me this weekend. Just the two of us enjoying some time together." She replied with the biggest blush I have ever seen in my life.

"Of course, Outrider, that would be nice." I say to her as I gave her a warm smile.

"Great, Thank you Firebreak. It's a date then. *Yawn* Well I think it's about time when visiting hours is over. I am going to go to sleep. Good night Krystof." She said one last time before falling asleep.

"Good night Outrider." I said as I exited her room. Now I have a question and only one person I know can help me with this.

Took me quite a while to find him before I eventually did. He was still in the area where the fire accident He was still covered in ash from the fire and had a completely new look to him. I think some of his hair is still on fire. Unfortunately, the other specialist are still here.

"Hey Ruin, I need your help for a moment." I yell out to him to capture his attention".

"Oh, hey Firebreak. What you need help with? *cough, cough*" He said right before erupting into a violent coughing fit.

*sigh*" First of all, take this it will help with your cough." I said as I dig around my supplies before giving him the same solution I gave to Outrider.

"Thanks Firebreak. Now what do you need help with.?' He gave a sly smile after drinking the solution I gave to him. I bet he doesn't know that the smirk on his face covered in ash makes him look like a clown.

"I actually have a question about something I don't have too much knowledge about, and I was wondering if you could help me with it?" I told him with a sense of dread and uncertainty in the pit of my stomach. Especially since the other specialist have gathered around.

"Okay sure. I will help you with what you need the best I can. Now what you need knowledge about?" He says with a mischievous smile.

"Okay this it. *deep breath* What is a date?" I asked him with a clear sense of confusion written on my face and in my voice.

I waited for a few moments as even more dread filled my stomach as apparently all the specialist has a stunned look on them. Or what can I presume is stunned look as Specter has his helmet on and Reaper is a robot. I am starting to think this was a bad idea.

"HAHAHAHA" was all I hear as every specialist including Reaper and Specter started laughing so much that they started to fall over clutching their stomachs.

Yes, that confirms my suspicions about this being a bad idea. *sighs* I should have just asked the internet as that would have been a lot less embarrassing. I really wish I could have fixed this with fire since it worked before. Well, as I used to say and still do: Life is strange, No?


	6. Chapter 6

Another day of my life

Chapter 6: Learning what a date is. (never thought I had to go through with this)

Ten minutes. Ten fucking minutes was how long I had to wait and stand there for them to finish laughing. I was sorely tempted to just burn them until nothing remains or make them remember that they should always bring spf 5000 with them when around me. But soon, not soon enough for mw, they finally stopped laughing. Lucky them that they stopped for if they laughed any more, they are going to have a healthy glow of radiation on.

"That's funny Firebreak. You not knowing what a date is. And here I thought you barely had a sense of humor." Ruin told me after he finished laughing and managing to catch his breath. Soon as he said that the other specialist soon said they agreed with Ruin and said that I was hilarious for saying that. That laughter died really quick when they saw my eyebrow twitching and my hand reaching for the purifier. Then they began instead of laughing to nervously chuckling instead.

"Oh, so you weren't kidding Firebreak." Ruin said while backing up towards the other specialists.

"Ruin, do I look like the person to joke around all the time like you and Battery? And also take a good long look at me. Do I seem like the kind of person that has ever been on a date before or even taken an interest in pursuing a relationship before?" I say to him through gritted teeth.

"Okay Firebreak you made your point. Now just please put away the purifier and we can talk this out like civilized people." he said hoping to calm me down and not get cooked alive by the purifier.

"Fine, you get to live. And also, Ruin do we look the least bit like ordinary civilized people?" I replied back to him while putting away the purifier.

"Okay, now that this is settled. Why do you want to know what a date is?" Ruin asked in almost all seriousness while still sporting that trademark smirk of his.

"Well, while I was at the infirmary treating Outriders wounds and ailments she asked if I was free this weekend and wanted to know if I was willing to go on a date with her. I replied yes to her saying it would be nice to go on a date with her even though I still don't know what a date is." I told Ruin while feeling a bit on edge on what was going to happen next.

"Ahh, how sweet." Both Battery and Seraph said at the same time. Honestly, I did not expect that. More so from Seraph, luckily, I did not say that out loud.

"Yes, it is sweet, except for the fact that I still don't know what a date is and not sure what to do on a date. So, can one of you tell me what a date and how to act on one." I told them already feeling my patience running thin.

"Oh, calm down Firebreak, I shall teach you all about dating. Afterall I am the king of getting dates." Ruin said only to immediately get smacked on the back of the head by seraph, battery and surprisingly specter.

"Come on I was just kidding. But seriously I will teach you all I know about dating." Ruin said motioning me to follow him to wherever he is going. Probably to the lounge area or his room.

"Not without us you're not." I heard both Battery and Seraph say loudly as I can only presume following us to make sure Ruin does not give me any false, shady, incorrect or offensive learning material.

"Should we follow them?" Prophet said in the background

"No. I think its best we stay out of this. Best we don't interfere with this." Specter replied to him.

"True. If we go it will end badly for us." Nomad said.

"Agreed." They all said at the same time.

"Anyone wants to play pool later?" Reaper asked.

"Sure" They all said as they retreated back into the base.

That was the last I heard of them as I continued to follow Ruin to wherever he was taking me. Battery and Seraph following right behind yelling at Ruin and trying to get him to reveal what he is going to teach me about dating. This will either end up so badly that nothing is going to be the same or very good that the future for all of us might just be a bit brighter.

Yeah that won't happen. Knowing the luck each of us has it will just end in disaster. I am seriously going to need a strong drink after this train wreck. Luckily, I managed to swipe some drinks a couple missions ago. They should hopefully numb the headache I will get after this.


	7. Chapter 7

Another day of my life

Chapter 7: Preparing for a date (again, never thought this would happen to me)

"... and that is how you charm the ladies and take them on a date they will never forget. Now any questions class." Ruin said in amusement as he looked around the cafeteria like he was a bloody teacher.

'_Yes, can murder you with the axe I have in my room now.' _was my only thought as I finished listening to Ruin's "advice" on how to take a lady on a date. I can tell from the low growls and deadly aura emanating from behind me that Seraph and Battery are not happy with Ruins advice either. They are probably thinking the same thoughts as I am right now except much darker and more torturous than me. And probably filled with castration on Ruin.

"Yes, we do teacher." Seraph replied.

"Do you have any last words before we gut you and castrate you like a pig." Said Battery with her teeth clenched so hard I could easily hear the grinding of her teeth through my suit and helmet.

"Run Ruin. If you still want to have kids someday, I suggest you run because these ladies here look like they about to take their threat very seriously." I told Ruin as I regained control of myself.

"Oh yeah I'll get back to you Firebreak. Right now, I am going to run for my life." Ruin said as he backed up and fled the area with the two ladies hot on his heels.

"Get back here Ruin." Both Battery and Seraph yelled as they chased him throughout the base and probably beyond given the fact of how angry they both are. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up castrating him given what he told me.

"Okay after this train wreck I seriously need something to calm my nerves." I told myself as I headed back to my room to calm myself down. What the others don't know (well except for Specter for obvious reasons) is that over the years I learned ways to control my anger and emotions.

After fifth teen minutes I finally got back to my room from the cafeteria. You would be surprised at how big this place actually is. Anyway, I learned a couple effective ways to deal with my emotions, especially my anger, though it took a while for me to find the correct ones for me. I tried yoga, I nearly broke my back, I tried some of those massage devices, felt so numb that couldn't move afterwards, I tried acupuncture and I felt like a piece of wood just filled to the brim with nails from someone who did not know how to hold a hammer.

Those were the failed attempts. At least I learned some good ways to control my anger. But that is for another time, right now all I want is to rest on my bed while reading my book with a nice glass of wine with some relaxing music playing. What, sometimes the simplest of things is the most effective. I stayed like this resting in my favorite chair, resting for at least half an hour before I heard a noise coming from just outside my door.

*Knock Knock*

*sigh* "Come in." I told the person.

Surprise to me it is Nomad who entered. Not who I was expecting but better than who I was expecting to enter the door. I was expecting either Ruin or the girls to come in here and continue "teaching me" about what a date is and how to make a great date for Outrider.

"Hey Firebreak." Nomad greeted me.

"Hello Nomad." I replied. '_Least he always respects me and does not takes things to far like the others.' _I thought while turning to look at him.

"Mind if I take a seat." He asked pointing towards the seat next to me

"Take a seat Nomad. Also, you don't have to be so formal around me Nomad." I told him as he sat down on the chair.

"Well, it's your room, don't want make you feel like I am intruding on your time and place Firebreak." He said with a sincere tone. You can probably already tell just from that on why he is my best friend here.

"Thanks" I told him. A comfortable silence followed.

"Nervous." Nomad said all of a sudden shaking me out of thoughts from my book.

"For the date with Outrider? Kind of since this would be the first time, I have been even close in intimacy with a lady." I stated truthfully

"Well she ain't just a lady Firebreak. \She is a warrior/trained soldier lady. But either way don't stress it too much. I am sure you will do just fine. Knowing you, the date with her will go fine. You are a good man Firebreak despite what many outsiders say." He said.

"Thanks for the confidence boost Nomad. Though do you have any tips for me on what to do and how to act on the date. Ruin's advice was terrible. So much so that both Battery and Seraph are currently chasing him around the base." I asked him only to hear a giant scream shortly after. "I think they caught him." I said after hearing the painful scream

"Yeah looks like. Anyway, what kind of tips you want for your date." Nomad asked as he sat upright ready to give some advice to me.

"I really need to know how to act on a date, if there is something I should do or place I should take her. I don't really. I am flying blind here." I told him while feeling a bit agitated. I never liked going into something blind. While I knew the basics of what a date is, I never went to learn it completely since my focus was on surviving, cleansing/burning things or as in the case when I was younger, taking care of my sister.

"That's simple really, no need to overcomplicate things. Just be yourself and I don't mean the immolation crew that many have come to know you as. Show her who you are, show her who Krystof Hejeck is. As for what to do on the date. Just take her around, show her the sights and make sure she has a grand old time. There will be a few things you might not see coming but just go along with it. But make sure your date has the time of her life." He said to me.

"That's it? There's got to be more than that." I asked feeling like he is hiding something from me.

"That's it. Remember don't overcomplicate things. Don't force things on yourself or her that you feel uncomfortable with. And most importantly, make sure she is fine and happy. That's it." He said trying to reassure me.

"Okay if you say so. Thanks Nomad." I said as I finally manage to calm myself as much, I was able to. I am still nervous about the date but not as much as before.

"No problem Firebreak. If you need me, I will be in the gym." Nomad said before leaving the room and leaving me to my thoughts.

'_Maybe he is right. Maybe all I really need to do is stop overcomplicating things, and just follow his advice.' _I thought as I decided to go and take a shower to rinse all the dirt from the day.

_Ten minutes later_

After that shower, I felt refreshed and clean. I decided to go to bed early so I can get a head start on the day tomorrow and practice a few things for the date. Hopefully nothing goes wrong. But if there is one thing, I do know is that I will not give up easily and make sure Outrider has a good time on this date. '_Yeah, Nomad is right. I just need to stop worrying and overcomplicating things and everything will be alright.'_ Those were my last thoughts as I slowly fell into the realm of slumber. Though before I fully fell asleep, I got this sinking feeling that tomorrow will be hell for me for some reason. Well if tomorrow will be hell for me than it will be just another day for me, Firebreak the fire specialist.


	8. Chapter 8

Another day of my life

Chapter 8: Preparation for a date (This ain't going to end well)

*Knock Knock*

'_Ugh, what now?'_

*Knock Knock*

'_Ugh, who could that be now?'_ Were my thoughts as I groggily turned in bed to see the time on the digital clock by my bed. It's s five in the morning. Who could be knocking at five in the morning? I got up and put on some pajamas and went to answer the door.

"Who is it?" I asked as I finally got to the door and opened it and to my great surprise it was Battery and Seraph standing there. Add to my surprise they were wearing civilian clothes and not their regular uniform apparel.

"It's just us Firebreak." Battery said.

"Okay, that answers who is here. But here comes the tough one. Why are you here?" I asked them while getting a little impatient. I am pretty sure I told you already that I am not a morning person.

"We came to get you so we can help you with the last preparations for your date tomorrow." Seraph said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, that's good but …. wait what do you mean last preparations" I asked suspicious of what they mean by that.

"Just the basics. As in where to take a lady and how to show her a good time. But also, we need to show you how to eat properly since you need a little polishing in that area. But most importantly, we need to get you a fresh set of nice-looking clothes." Battery said.

"That's right Firebreak. Your clothes leave something to be desired. Most of them are burnt, torn, have holes in them or just outright smell of gasoline. And the better half of your clothes are your combat clothes. These clothes you have will simply not do for a date with Outrider." Seraph said, kind of surprising me a bit.

"So basically, you want to teach me on how to treat a lady to a good time on a date and go clothes shopping for me for better clothes." I said bluntly.

"Yes, pretty much." They replied back.

"Okay fine I will go. Just one question. Why do we have to do this so early in the morning?" I asked.

"Considering the travel and time it would take to get to the town plus the wait times its best we get a head start on the day. Plus, we need to check out a lot of stores to get you the perfect clothes for your date." Battery said.

"Fine. Let me get ready. I will meet you in the kitchen in half an hour then we can head to the vehicle bay then to town." I said I closed the door and headed toward the closet to get ready. Well at least it's not going to be a headache like some people tend to exaggerate when clothes shopping with women.

_30 minutes later_

After a quick cold shower (I work with heat all day long so I prefer a good cold shower) and change of clothes I went to make my bed and gather the stuff I usually carry when not in my suit. After all this I made my way towards the kitchen to get at least a light meal to fill myself up for the day ahead. Upon entering the kitchen, I saw Seraph and Battery waiting for me.

"Here you go Firebreak. A little something, we whipped up so we can get on the way quicker." Battery said as she handed me a bowl of tomato soup with bits of parsley in it. A simple meal I used to have every chance I get while growing up. I sat down and started to eat it while prepping myself for the day's journey.

"Aside from getting the clothes and checking where to go for the date, is there anything else needed to be done." I asked as I finished my meal before putting it in the sink to wash it.

"Maybe give you a few tips and help you pick up gifts for her along the way and give you some hints on what she does and doesn't like" Seraph said casually while looking through her phone for locations.

"Is this a helping preparation for the date or marriage? Plus, don't you think this might be going a bit far. I mean isn't the purpose of a date to get to know each other more intimately, at least a bit more than a friend on the first date." I asked them being a bit confused but also a bit on edge on what this could lead up to.

"Looks like Outrider was right. You do have a sense of humor Firebreak. But no, we are just making sure that everything goes right. Outrider is our friend and we don't want anything to happen to her. Plus, someone deserves to be happy here and, in a relationship. But mainly we want to get rid of and fix all the information that Ruin gave you." Battery said in a light voice that turned serious and annoyed at the end.

"You don't have to worry about that. I tuned Ruin out five seconds after he started talking." I said to them hoping to calm them down a bit. Well what I said was true, I tuned out Ruin knowing that his advice would be useless.

"Well now that you're done. Let's head towards the vehicle bay to head into town." Seraph said sounding a bit impatient. Not surprising since she said she never liked standing around and always preferred doing something however small it is.

Ten minutes later and a few annoyances along the way (mostly with a few other maintenance people getting in our way or screaming at the sight of me) we had finally made our way to the vehicle depot. One thing most people don't realize is that we have multiple different vehicle bays but categorized into three different types. There is a military bay which is for missions and operations, there is an event bay which is mainly used for special events (such as funerals and promotions, it is rarely used) and finally the personal vehicle bay which is where we specialist keep our own vehicles.

"Okay so who here is driving?" I asked already knowing the answer but asking just for clarification

"You of course Firebreak. We still need to look up some final places for sightseeing and places to get you the clothes you need. Plus, you're the best driver in the base when it comes to rough terrain. We can do it too but we are not the best with this kind of terrain." Battery said.

"Okay, fine pick which car you want me to drive. I got a couple cars." I said while walking towards where I keep the keys for my cars. You would be wondering how I managed to afford this. Well the answer is plain and simple. The organization gives us each a huge paycheck with bonuses for each mission done well. Plus, the better we do, the more we earn. Honestly, sometimes I feel like they give us too much money. The one who spends the most is Prophet (don't know how much Specter spends) and he barely goes past ten percent of his total salary earnings.

"How about the one under the tarp? Seems you like this one the most since you are protecting it the most." Seraph replied. I simply shrugged my shoulders and grabbed the keys and headed back towards them.

"Okay, hop in you two." I say as I uncovered the car and started it up. Though I did hear them gasp for a moment before entering.

"What's wrong you two?" I asked, getting a little peeved at all the interruptions today with it not even being six a.m. yet.

"Sorry Firebreak. We just did not know you would own a type of car like this. Are you sure this can handle the off-road terrain?" Battery asked with a bit of concern in her voice. The vehicle we got into was a custom 2060 Chevy Camero. Honestly, I agree with them since at first, I would have never got a car like this but at one point I decided to treat myself a bit with something that would be comforting and enjoyable.

"Don't worry about that. I had Prophet upgrade the car so that it can handle most terrain. So, there is no problem. Plus, there is a paved road put here recently to make the travel much easier than before." I said I started the car and drive out of the vehicle bay and onto the road to town.

_1 ½ hour later_

"Okay we are here in town. Where to now?" I asked waking both Battery and Seraph up from their short nap.

"Oh, we're here. That's good. Now as for the location there is a mall in the center of town that has everything we need. Just keep driving for another three miles and then turn right onto fire avenue and the mall should be insight. Seraph said pulling out her data pad to get the location for the destination.

"Fire avenue? Really. They named a street Fire avenue." I asked kind of taken back that they would name a street that.

"Yes, Firebreak they named a street that. Now let's get going. The sooner we finish here, the quicker we can move on." Battery said.

Another half an hour and we finally got to the mall. Would have been quicker had it not been for the construction on the road. Then it took another fifteen minutes to find parking. You would expect at seven-forty in the morning to not find too much traffic or parked cars but you would be wrong.

"Well, now that we are here, what store we should go to first?" I asked looking around. If there is one thing, I have never felt comfortable with is when there is a lot of people in a confined area.

"Over here Firebreak. Let's find you some shirts first." Seraph said as she walked into the store with Battery while discussing what would look good on me. I sincerely hope they remember that I am not a very patient man. I do have patience but not a lot of it and it can quickly wear out in certain situations.

I started to walk towards the store where they entered when I noticed the name of the store. *groan* It was called Flaming Wear for men. Now I am just getting annoyed with all these names and references with fire. There is a difference between understanding fire and working together with it and just being an obsessed psycho with it. I do my job seriously with professionalism.

"Firebreak, over here. We got you some shirts to wear." Battery yelled to me snapping out of my thoughts.

'_Well let's get this over with.' _I thought as I headed over towards the changing room

_Half an hour later_

"Okay, now that this is done. What store is next?" I asked coming out in my regular clothes after trying out about twelve shirts. I asked them why so many shirts when I need only one or two and Seraph replied saying that I need some new clothes for outside and casual use instead of my normal attire.

"Now we just need some pants and shoes to complete the suit. Luckily, we know the perfect location for this. Let's go." Seraph said.

"Okay, lead the way." I said. I followed them and found us standing in front of another store meant for pants, shoes and socks.

"This will be quick Firebreak. Don't worry." Battery said.

"Hopefully." I said.

As we walked towards the section, we were looking for I couldn't help but voice a question that has been bugging me since we first got into the mall and more so since I started changing. Well, since we are close to the section we need to be at, might as well ask them if they have any clue to what's happening.

"You two think you can answer a question that's been on my mind since we got here?" I asked really hoping they could at least give me some sort of answer to calm my nerves.

"Sure, Firebreak what's your question?" Battery asked. She had stopped reading the mall map to turn around and face me alongside Seraph.

"I have been getting these looks from everybody we passed. I am not sure if it's because we are very different from the average person that we stand out or if it is something else. It's starting to get on my nerves and put me on edge." I told them hoping its nothing and I am just being paranoid. Hey, if you have been through what I have been through you would feel the same.

Instead of answering the question or at the very least easing my nerves and tension they did something I did not expect that started to piss me off. They doubled over and began to laugh hard at me non-stop for the next five minutes. Lucky me that Ruin isn't here otherwise I might explode and burn everyone around me.

But finally, soon after they stopped laughing and were finally able to speak normally without hinderance they answered my question and it was not what I expected at all.

"Sorry Firebreak but we figured you were joking and when we realized you weren't it just made it funnier." Battery said finally regaining her composure along with Seraph. Though they did take a step back in fear. Presumably when they saw my eyebrow twitching and my muscles tensing along with my fists clenching in anger with my knuckles cracking a bit.

"Okay Firebreak we'll tell you. Truth be told, aside from how you look and act and how strange and foreign you look in this place. You are quite handsome with your rugged face and fit body. The females are probably looking at you with lust and the men are probably just jealous or weary of you while protecting their daughters or family members." Battery said while a Cheshire grin made itself present on her face.

"..."

"Um, Firebreak? You okay? Your starting to make us worry? Battery said with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm alright Battery. It's just that of all the things I were to hear in my life, being called handsome was at the bottom of the list." I said with all honesty. Hey can you blame me after all I went through and keep in mind, not many have seen me outside of my uniform/suit.

"That's actually kind of sad Firebreak. Well that's going to change when your date with Outrider comes along." Seraph said reassuringly before turning and continuing towards the store we were going to.

After about ten minutes, some annoying stares and constant sales men getting in our way with their "special deals" we finally managed to reach our destination.

"Oh, you got to be shitting me." I said as I took in the name of the store the other two went in. Its name is ignem sudarium which loosely translates to fire clothes and now I am really getting pissed at all these references to my line of work. I'm starting to think that Battery and Seraph did this on purpose. But instead of confronting them and wasting time by complaining I simply went in after them to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Ok Firebreak, here we are. Don't worry this is the last stop before we move onto lunch then the final stages of preparation. Then you'll be good for the date." Seraph said as we walked in the store, seemingly trying to sooth my impatience right now.

*sigh* "Let's just get this over with shall we." I said as I was getting tired with all this. All I want to do now is just sit down for a little bit and rest.

"Don't worry Firebreak, this one will be quick." Battery said as we reached the section of the store they were looking for. It was all underwear and pants and belts along with a few admittingly nice shoes.

"Okay Firebreak, stay here and pick out some shoes you like while we check out some of the clothing options for you." Seraph said before she and Battery left towards another section of the store.

"Alright, just hurry back." I said to them as they left while going over towards the shoe section of the store. To my surprise, they have nearly every brand here. '_Great this is going take a while.' _ I thought as I entered one of the many isles of the shoe section.

To be honest they have a great assortment of options to choose from. Starting from sport wear all the way to formal event wear and everything in between. I decided to get a pair of sports shoes, casual shoes, formal shoes and some slippers. Might as well get one of each since I'm here. Either way I've been meaning to get these for some time now since my current ones have been starting to go bad plus I can barely get the stench of gasoline out of them anymore. After about thirty minutes I managed to get the ones I needed plus they were not bad looking. After putting away the rest that didn't work, I made my way over to the register.

"There you are Firebreak. We have been looking all over for you." Battery said as she came over to me along with Seraph.

"We got the last of the stuff here for you. Now we just need to go and pay and we will be done with this part of your preparation for your date with Outrider. Then we will just need to show you some good spots for your date and you'll be all set."

*sigh* "Okay then. Lead the way" I said tired as now I was just getting a bit annoyed at all this. Sure, I'm grateful for all they are doing but now it just seems excessive for a first date.

After paying for all the clothes and shoes we left the store and headed towards the garage of this place to get back to the car so we can get the final part of the preparation on the way. After about forty-five minutes on the road after we left the mall, we came across one of the first places that Battery and Seraph said I should take Outrider to. Then after fifteen minutes or so of trying to find a parking spot we finally managed to find a spot. After parking we went out and I have to say this spot is beautiful.

"Amazing isn't it Firebreak. This is one of the best views here in the city, overlooking everything else and giving a beautiful sight to the sunrise and sunset to all those who witness it. Not to mention at night it's a great place to stargaze without a problem. Plus the food here isn't bad either. It's a great place for you to take Outrider and get to know each other better." Battery said

"This is a great place to take her here. It is beautiful." I said to her while keeping my gaze on the horizon. It is a beautiful sight. While me and the others get to travel the world, we hardly ever get to stay and admire the sight. So, this was a nice change I am defiantly coming back here again just to enjoy the view.

"Well now that we should you and got you everything you need for your date; we can head back to the base now to get some much-needed rest. Especially you since tomorrow is your date and you want to make it a good one don't you." Seraph said.

Yeah, she was right. After everything that happened today despite it not being even the evening time, I am tired already from everything. Who knew prepping for a date was so exhausting? I mean I have gone through days of continuous work with little rest yet still I wasn't as tired then as I am now. Well after finishing leaning what this beautiful spot has to offer, we went back to the car. After about another three hours' drive, we finally managed to get back to the base. Then after another ten minutes to get through security and protocols we finally parked the car and got out ready to just relax after s tiring day.

"Well, that was a fun day right Firebreak?" Battery asked with a smirk as she saw my tired and annoyed look.

"Yeah, fun day indeed." I said through tired and clenched teeth. To be honest, after today and all that happened, can you blame me. A whole day of shopping, traffic, annoyances, and new surprises has left me tired and with little patience left.

"Cheer up Firebreak. It may have been tiring today but it'll all be worth it in the end. Trust us." Battery said looking directly at me.

"Okay, I trust you two so I'll take your word for it. Well I best be heading my room to rest since I'm pretty tired and to prepare for tomorrow. Thanks again you two. I'll find a way to make it up to you two." I said sine they did help me out a lot and I feel it's only fair that I at the very least pay them back somehow.

"Oh, there is no need to pay us back Firebreak, but we just ask you to show Outrider a good time since she deserves some happiness in her life especially after everything she has gone through." Battery said with a smile

"But hurt her feelings Firebreak and we will show you why we are feared by showing you pains like you have never experienced before." Seraph said.

"Was that a threat? Sounded like threat." I replied back to her. Like I said before, I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to certain things but I can still tolerate them enough to get by without snapping. But there are a few things that will cause me to snap in an instant. One of those being some questions my morals and my "honor". While some might question me on that especially the "honor" part considering how I act and grew alongside with the type of job I do. But say what you will, I still have my morals and one of them is to never harm a girl/woman unless they are trying to kill me with intention to kill me.

"Are you seriously threatening us right now when we are just protecting our friend Firebreak?" Seraph said while getting into a fighting stance ready to attack me.

"Are you seriously questioning my morals right now? Look, while we haven't always interacted with each other until a while ago, you two should know me enough by now that I hold the upmost respect towards women and would never harm them unless they are trying to kill. While I respect that you two are just protecting you friend and that is respectable, please don't question my morals again because I might snap badly and do something I might regret later on." I told them in all seriousness. It's true that certain things will cause me to snap and, in that rage, I could do something I regret and that's the last thing I want to happen.

"That's…. True." Seraph said while getting out of her stance and relaxing a bit.

"Yeah, in my time here and hearing stories I should have now Firebreak would never harm anyone without a good reason and while some say he has little respect for allies I've seen him being actually protectful of others." Battery added. Which makes me wonder that if stories are told of me, how many people know about me and what I can do to them.

"Yeah, sorry Firebreak. It's just we care for Outrider; she is like a sister to us. And we don't want to see her hurt." Seraph admitted. Which surprised me a bit at first but then I understood. After everything they went through, I should not be surprised that they formed a bond with each other like those of sisters.

"Don't worry Seraph. I won't let her get hurt whether it be physical or emotional. You have my word on that." I said to her to reassure them that no harm will come to Outrider from me or from others while I'm around.

"Thank you, Firebreak. We really appreciate it." Both of them said with small smiles gracing their faces.

With this all out of the way I made my way towards my room to unwind from the day with all the stuff the girls brought for me. Who knew it would take this much to prepare for a date? Well considering who and what I am and the job I do, I shouldn't be too surprised with the amount of stuff needed to make me look my best. But even then, I think this is too much. After a few minutes of walking the halls I finally made it to my room. After fumbling around looking for the keys (since I'm still carrying the bags) I managed to open the doors and enter before dropping off the bags near the couch. After dropping off the bags I went to the small fridge I have in my room grabbing a small bottle of water to drink. After finishing the bottle up, I went to the couch chair to sit and relax while watching a movie to take my mind off the day and whatever else happened.

*knock knock*

'_Ugh, who could that be.' _I thought as I got up to open the door. I don't need more complications or annoyances today as I already reached my limit along with my patience being nearly completely gone. Once I opened the door, I saw it wasn't the girls but was Nomad behind it.

"Hey Firebreak. Great day for shopping isn't it?" Nomad said with a cheshire grin.

"Not now Nomad. I've had a tiring and mentally exhausting day today. I don't need any more unnecessary stress." I said as I massaged my temples. Which was true what I said as I don't think I can handle much more without snapping if I don't take a break soon to relax myself.

_Chuckle_ "I thought of that and brought this along with me to help you relax and have a nice conversation to help you unwind from all this stress that you are under right now." Nomad said as he brought his hand forward and showed me that he brought along scotch and soda. A not so complicated cocktail to make but sure does calm me down after a long and tiring day. I'm sure some of you would be surprised that I even drink considering what happened to my when I was a child especially considering liquor and beer were the center of the problems. But I really don't drink a lot and when I do drink its usually for big occasions and even then, I would prefer a soda or even a water to be honest or even lemonade. I like more refreshing drinks rather than having a beer or liquor. Not to mention I like being sober. But with all of this going I need a drink just to wash away all this stress and tension and to just unwind from the day.

"Alright then, come on in Nomad." I said motioning for him to come in and to close the door behind him. As we headed into my room, we headed towards the two couches I have there with a small table between them.

"Rough day Firebreak?" Nomad said after we settled down into the couch and started sipping our drinks.

"You don't know the half of it Tavo. It was just so much to take in and what to do and how to prepare for it. I am just overwhelmed with what to do. Truthfully, I am a bit nervous for this before today, but now with what Battery and Seraph have told me and all that they made me go through today I am now nervous beyond what I thought was possible." I said to Nomad. He really is my best friend. Well one of my few friends that I can trust with everything as he never abandoned my side and always stuck by me. I am very fortunate to have him as a friend as many others would have left m to die as soon as they got the chance or try to turn me in hoping to get a big reward. But not him, not Nomad.

"I can tell since you normally say my actual name unless it's pretty big or you're really uncertain of something which rarely occurs. Well I can give you some tips and make it a lot simpler than what Battery and Seraph made it out to be. Would you like that Firebreak?' Nomad asked

"Yes, I would like that very much." I replied back. Anything would be useful right now. As in I'm in way over my head with this and I need all the help I can get. This is strange to me as I hardly ever needed anyone's help with something and even then, it was always minor things just to make something simple witch I could have done if I had my way. But this was something else entirely and I needed all the help I can get.

"To be honest Krystof you have most of the things down already even the hard parts that come with it you already got down. Really all you need was some better clothes which Battery and Seraph got you and the places they showed you are perfect for taking a date there. What makes it even easier is that you and Outrider know each other so it won't be as awkward as the usual first date that comes. But to make it easy for you and to put it short and not confusing, you just have to be yourself and not worry too much. Just be yourself, be mindful and have a good time and it will all work out for the both of you in the end. So, don't worry everything will work out in the end." Nomad told me which helped me calm down a lot since it made me realize I am making it a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

"Thanks, Tavo, I really needed this to calm me down and your advice will certainly help me with this." I said to him as I finished up my drink. This really helped as I now feel more confident than before.

"No problem Krystof. Always glad to help. If you ever need help for anything in the future you know where to find me." He told me with a good genuine smile.

"Yup just follow the smell of nature and I shall find you." I said with a chuckle as we both got and headed towards the door.

"Yeah and I can always find you by following the smell of gas and burnt charcoal." Nomad replied with a chuckle as well.

"Well thanks for the advice Nomad. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast." I said as I got ready to close the door.

"Well then see you tomorrow Firebreak. And most importantly sleep well and good luck." Nomad said with a smile before giving me a pat on the shoulder before heading towards his room down the hall.

When he was out of sight, I closed the door and headed towards the bathroom to wash up before going to bed. As I splashed some water on my face and changed into my sleep wear, I looked at myself in the mirror. Honestly sometimes I can't believe how much I have changed and grown. It almost scares me with how I've changed. And I am still changing. Before I never thought I would get a date or find someone to love. Neither would I have ever thought that someone would say that I am a handsome man like Battery and Seraph said at the mall today. Well like I always say "Life is strange, No?"

After washing up and getting ready, I headed towards my bed ready for sleep. I got in and tried to drift off towards sleep but it was hard to do so. Maybe I was still nervous. Maybe it's because tomorrow will bring a new experience to me and maybe more. Add to it that I can't normally handle this like I usually do with other problems with fire. But either way I will face this new experience and make the best of it. Like Nomad said, just be myself and everything shall turn out great. I kept repeating this to myself and pretty soon I felt my eyelids become heavy as it became harder to keep saying and to stay awake. But before I drifted off into dreamland, my last thought was that of my sister Marika and what she would think of me now. But those thoughts were quickly replaced by Outrider and her smile and those beautiful eyes of her every time she looks at me.

'_Maybe I am falling in love with her. Hopefully tomorrow will clear everything up and maybe just maybe something more will come out of this date.' _Was my last coherent thought before sleep took me away into dreamland.


End file.
